A Guide to Asgard! Part 1: The Royal Family

Thor has finally come down to earth! Well, Australia, to be precise. The world premiere of this highly anticipated new effort from Marvel Studios happened over the weekend in Sydney, and the response has been overwhelmingly positive. BUT, we Yanks still have to wait nearly three more weeks before the the U.S. release on May 6th, and, since we’ve got all this time to kill, I thought it might be nice to learn a little bit about the characters we’ll be seeing in this epic tale of gods and men!

Prologue

First, there was nothing. Except a fire demon and a magic WELL OF LIFE! Then, the north wind froze the WELL OF LIFE! Then, from layers of ice, rose the evil frost demon, Ymir! Then, also from the layers of ice, rose a magic cow (don’t ask)! After the magic cow, which totally provided nourishment for Ymir, there rose from the ice Buri, the first of the good gods, also called Aesir! Sometime after that, a woman must have arose, or several, because Buri “took him a wife” and had a son, Borr! Borr then must also have found some other women, hopefully not related to his mother, because he also married and had three children, two of which don’t seem to really matter at all, but one . . . one was ODIN!!!

Odin, played by Anthony Hopkins

Son of Borr, Grandson of Buri, descendent of the noble Aesir, Odin is the greatest of all Norse Gods! When the world was young and the time of man had not yet come, Odin achieved the very first triumph of good over evil in the Universe. In this pivotal battle Odin defeats the evil Ymir (remember that evil frost giant from the prologue? Come to think of it, that Ymir must have been really old. Like older than Odin’s grandfather! I bet I could take one of my Grandad’s friends, no problem! Doesn’t seem that impressive anymore, does it? Oh well.) Odin then goes and fights Sartur, the fire demon (see prologue), in his struggle to secure his reign of Asgard. After a great struggle, mighty Odin traps his fiery foe in the center of the Earth to forever provide heat and energy to the planet. Odin then rules over Asgard as a wise and powerful king, defending it from aggressors and ruling the many god-like inhabitants that aren’t actually gods, known as the ASGARDIANS!!!!

Frigga, played by Rene Russo

Frigga is Odin’s wife, but not Thor’s mom (scandalous!). She was a major Norse goddess who could see the future, but never told what she saw (kinda like me;

I have the power of flight, but I never fly. It’s alright, though, I have a razor scooter.). Anyway, Frigga also has a son, Balder, over whom she casts an invincibility spell, but he gets killed while they are testing it. Way to go, Frigga!

Thor, played by Chris Hemsworth

At some point Odin shacked up with an “Earth Goddess” (winning!) named Gaea, and she begat a son, and his name was Thor Odinson (“Odin’s son,” get it? You’re so smart.). Though he’s not completely immortal, Thor is incredibly powerful, possessing superhuman strength and senses, weather manipulation, near invulnerability, a life span of millennia, and a beard. His enormous hammer, Mjolnir (pronounced ovur-KOM-pin-sate-ing), also adds to his arsenal allowing the Asgardian the ability of flight, dimensional transportation, energy absorption, and the ability to hit very large nails! He has a powerful temper, but is brave, noble, and proud. While in Asgard, he spends most of his time defending the rule of his father, but is sent to Earth by Odin to learn humility.

So, there you have it, folks, the first family of Asgard! This concludes part one of the Thor primer; be sure to tune in next week when we’ll look at Thor’s step-brother Loki, Laufey, his father, and the sexy, Asgardian warrior Sif! Don’t miss it, or we’ll miss you!